Interview: Joe DiPietro Talks Writing ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It,’ His Tony Nomination and Casting Stars in Broadway Shows

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The new Broadway musical Nice Work If You Can Get It has been nominated for a whopping 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Kelli O’Hara), Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Michael McGrath) and Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Judy Kaye).

Nominated for Best Book of a Musical and one of the main forces behind the hit show is Joe DiPietro.

Joe is already a two-time Tony Winner for Memphis for Best Book and Best Score, wrote The Toxic Avenger, All Shook Up and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change – which has the distinction of being the longest running musical revue in off-Broadway history.

Nice Work If You Can Get It stars Matthew Broderick and Kelli O’Hara and features songs by George and Ira Gershwin and tells the story of bootleggers, chorus girls, playboys and politicians is set 1920s.

Joe is terrifically funny and an all-around great guy. I talked to him recently about his nomination, how he came to write Nice Work, his writing process and his thoughts on casting stars in Broadway shows.

Oh, and if you ever see Joe on the streets of NYC, stop him and tell him he needs to take a vacation. He needs a break!

For tickets and more information about Nice Work If You Can Get It, click here Read more

Winning Concept – The 20 Mile March

Written by Gywn Gilliss

Winning Concept – The 20 Mile March

Creating a Successful Marketing Campaign

I love reading about adventurers, explorers, those who dared to strike out and accomplish something major. Even if they didn’t change the world, their stories are worth hearing about… inspiring to say the least. And there’s a lot to be learned in reading biographies of these extraordinary people. You can apply their choices to your life as a Warrior- Actor.

For example, THE SOUTH POLE. A story of two adversaries. Amundsen and his counterpart, Scott, were both extremely courageous men, two very different (and probably difficult) personalities. Jim Collins, best selling author who wrote Good to Great, and Great by Choice, explores the personality traits of highly successful CEO’s and of each explorer. Because that’s what it gets down to in life- PERSONALITY. PERSONAL TRAITS. Read more

Trailer: Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Carey Mulligan & Isla Fisher

Like all Baz Luhrmann films, I love the look of this film. The colors and costumes look perfect. The cast is great and I’m totally looking forward to it.

Why wasn’t this around when I was in High School? Anyone remember having to watch that dreadful Robert Redford version?

The Great Gatsby: From the uniquely imaginative mind of writer/producer/director Baz Luhrmann comes the new big screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby. The filmmaker will create his own distinctive visual interpretation of the classic story, bringing the period to life in a way that has never been seen before, in a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role. “The Great Gatsby” follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super-rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.

Director: Baz Luhrmann
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Carey Mulligan, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, Elizabeth Debicki, Amitabh Bachchan
Writers: Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce

In Theaters: December 25th  Read more

Biography: Felicity Jones

Felicity Jones is one of the brightest actresses of her generation.

She has recently been seen in Julie Taymor’s film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, in BAFTA-nominated director Niall MacCormick’s Albatross and in the romantic drama Like Crazy. For her performance as ‘Anna’ in like Crazy, Jones was awarded for Best Breakthrough Performer by the National Board of Review and the Gotham Awards, among others. Jones has also starred in the romantic comedy The Chalet Girl, and in Soulboy, a coming-of-age drama set in the 1970s Northern Soul underground musical scene, which premiered to great acclaim at the Edinburgh Film Festival. In addition to her role as Emily in Hysteria, she will next be seen in Davis Hare’s Page Eight (TV movie) with Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz and Bill Nighy; and in the comedy Cheerful Weather for the Wedding.

Other recent films include Cemetary Junction, a comedy written and directed by the award-winning partnership of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant; and the short movie The Hangup, based on Anthony Minghella’s 1980 radio play.

Jones starred as ‘Edmée’ in Cheri, directed by Stephen Frears, co-starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates and Rupert Friend. Her extensive film credits also include the role of Lady Cordelia Flyte in the remake of Brideshead Revisited, directed by Julian Jarrold, opposite Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw and Hayley Atwell; and Flashbacks of a Fool with Daniel Craig, Harry Eden, rapper Eve, Keeley Hawes and Olivia Williams. Read more

Biography: Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson has become one of the leading international motion-picture actors today. Whether it is his Academy Award®-nominated role of Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg’s highly acclaimed Schindler’s List (1993), his award-winning portrayal of the legendary Irish Republican hero in Michael Collins (1996), or his role as controversial sex therapist Alfred Kinsey in the critically acclaimed Kinsey (2004), Neeson continues to display an acting range matched by few.

In January 2012, Neeson starred in the box-office hit The Grey. Directed by Joe Carnahan, this action-adventure featured an oil drilling team that struggled to survive after a plane crash that stranded them in the wild of Alaska. Hunting the humans was a pack of wolves that saw them as intruders.

In February 2011, Neeson was seen opposite Diane Kruger and January Jones in Unknown, a psychological thriller about stolen identity. Neeson also co-starred in the Warner Bros. remake of the 1981 film Clash of the Titans, which tells the myth of Perseus and his quest to battle both Medusa and the Kraken monster in order to save the princess Andromeda. A sequel is currently in the works for release in 2012. Read more

Linda Emond on her ‘Death of a Salesman’ Role: “It really is a process for me of digging and saying those words and trying to find out who that person is”

The latest Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman has been both a critical and financial smash (it has already turned a profit and still has a few weeks of shows left), and director Mike Nichols and stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield have gotten the lion’s share of the praise. 

But let’s not forget about the other cast members: Linda Emond, who stars as Linda Loman, has also received great reviews for her challenging role. In an interview with Broadway.com, Emond explains how she got the role and how she developed her interpretation of the tragic character.

Curiously enough, Emond didn’t so much audition for the part as she was told she would be doing it!  She explains, “Mike [Nichols] called me in July of 2010 on a random day and said they were going to do this production, and Phil was going to play Willy and would I play Linda. To get that phone call was nice! I had first met him through Tony Kushner. We were doing one of the first productions of Homebody/Kabul when Tony and Mike were working on Angels in America for HBO, and I met [Mike] and loved him from the beginning. He has been incredibly supportive of my work from that time on.” Read more

Michael Caine was Accidentally Locked in an Attic Overnight During Latest Film Shoot

Sir Michael Caine will turn eighty next year, yet he still makes a habit of appearing in two or three films every year.  He’s not known for turning down work, and he hardly takes a break from acting.  But considering what happened when he took a break on the set of Now You See Me (also starring Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg and Morgan Freeman), he might be onto something with his “no break” policy.

The Dark Knight Rises actor was in his dressing room, which was in the attic of an old New Orleans theater, and fell asleep for what he intended to be a quick nap.  The staff figured that Caine had left for the evening and locked up the theater for the night — trapping the Oscar-winner in the attic — which had no electricity! Read more

Watch the Trailers for All the New CBS Fall Shows

CBS only ordered 4 pilots for the fall and the only one that remotely interests me is the Dennis Quaid starrer, Vegas.

Made in Jersey is a Legally Blonde rip-off and Sherlock is a near clone of the BBC’s Sherlock.

Check them out below. Read more

Watch the Trailers for All the New NBC Fall Shows

NBC has 9 new scripted shows coming this fall and some look pretty promising. Jon Favreau and JJ Abrams Revolotion, Matthew Perry‘s Go On, The New Normal with Justin Bartha and Andrew Rannells and 1600 Penn with Josh Gad.

Check them all out below! Read more

Listen to Tom Cruise Sing “Pour Some Sugar On Me” from ‘Rock of Ages’

People all over Twitter (and beyond) are slamming Rock of Ages for how cheesy it looks and how it doesn’t represent the 80′s they know and love.

I say screw them.

I’m looking forward to this film and I’m hoping that it does really well. It’s got a great cast in Alec Baldwin, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Russel Brand, Malin Ackerman, Bryan Cranston and Tom Cruise and some great classic songs. Yeah, it’s not going to win any awards but I’m betting it’ll be a fun time. 

Anyway, courtesy of People, you can hear Cruise singing the chorus to the Def Leppard song, “Pour Some Sugar On Me” from the soundtrack.

Listen to it below!

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